Wanderer
by Feyla
Summary: I look through windows and see people talking…laughing…just living out their lives. Never knowing how close they came to death six years ago. Never knowing that six years ago the world was in danger and we protected it.


**Title: **Wanderer

**Author: **Feyla

**Summary: **While walking along empty streets one Ronin thinks back on his life since he helped save the world.

**Disclaimer:** While the writing and the plot may be mine, the characters and their original story are not.

**Special thanks** to **Anliya **for looking this over for me and helping with a few kinks. If you haven't read anything by her, you should definitely look her up and read some of her stuff. You won't be sorry!

**Wanderer **

I have been walking the streets for hours now with no destination, no purpose. As I look up at the stars glittering brightly, I think of him. He was Strata, and the night sky was his element. He loved to sit on the roof and stare up at the stars. He would lose track of time and stay up there all night if we let him. It was an unspoken rule that the last one to go to bed made sure he was in the house.

I wonder where he is now, where life has taken him since we last parted. If he has someone to make sure he doesn't stay on the roof all night, or if he even has a roof to watch the stars on. I haven't spoken to him in five years, haven't seen him seen him in six. It's hard to believe that we saved the world together but cannot manage so simple a thing as keeping in touch.

None of us has managed to keep in touch. We've all drifted away from each other since that last battle. We saved the world together, but we never really knew each other. Our battle to save the world was what drew us together. It was the glue held us together. We were friendly during our time together, but we didn't really know each other. There was never time for that. There was always another battle to fight and the world to save.

Since we saved the world I have wandered. I haven't really been able to find my place in this world. I've bounced from one place to another, never really knowing how long I would stay. Sometimes I wish we were still fighting. Then at least I would have some purpose. I wouldn't be the aimless person that I am now. I would be doing something again, something that mattered. Not like the meaningless things I've been doing to pass the time since then.

I look through windows and see people talking…laughing…just living out their lives. Never knowing how close they came to death six years ago. Never knowing that six years ago the world was in danger and we protected it.

They will never know all we sacrificed for them. How we left behind our childhood and took up a task to heavy for our shoulders to carry. We took on the burden because there was no one else. We fought so that others would not have to. We fought to save the innocent and protect the world.

They look down on me because I wander, but I wander because my purpose has been taken away from me. I never wanted to be a warrior, but a warrior I became. A warrior I still am, but the world has no need for me now. I have been cast aside and discarded, an unfortunate product of war.

I wonder if the others have moved on with their lives. I wonder if they have been able to achieve that sense of purpose that has eluded me. I should have kept in touch with them. I should have kept in touch with him. I could have learned then who he was outside of the constant pressure of trying to save the world.

The streets are empty now. I keep walking, wandering through the chilly night. I stop in a small café to warm up and order something warm to drink. As I sit at a table, I see a flash of blue out of the corner of my eye. At first, I believe my eyes are playing tricks on me, and I run out into the street to verify the truth. I look ahead of me and I see him, a solitary figure on the deserted street. He is walking down the street slowly, aimlessly. It reminds me of myself before I stopped in this small café. I call to him. When he turns around, I believe that I have found another wanderer.

Another just like me.

_Fin_

**Notes: **Thanks for taking the time to read this piece. I had some time between classes this week and wrote it real quick. It started off with Touma and just went from there, writing itself practically. Then Anliya helped me out to smooth over the beginning and the end, plus a few words that just didn't fit. Although I did mention Touma, I wanted to leave the actual narrator unclear and let the reader make that choice. I did of course have a certain character in mind when writing this, but I just really wanted to leave it up in the air.

I hope you'll take the time to review this and let me know what you thought about it!


End file.
